1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluorescent agent concentration measuring apparatus and a fluorescent agent concentration measuring method, wherein the concentration of a fluorescent agent in a living body is measured, and furthermore, to a dose control apparatus, an administration system, and a dose control method, wherein a fluorescence state of an inspection object is maintained favorably when a fluorescent drug is administered by using the fluorescent agent concentration measuring apparatus and fluorescence observation is conducted with a fluorescence endoscope or the like.
2. Related Art Statement
In recent yeas, a technology in which autofluorescence from a living body or fluorescence from a drug injected into a living body is detected as a two-dimensional image, and degeneration of a living body tissue and a status of disease, e.g., a cancer, (for example, type of disease and range of humectation) are diagnosed from the fluorescence figure thereof is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,057 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,494.
When light is radiated to a living body tissue, fluorescence with a wavelength longer than that of the excitation light is emitted. Examples of phosphors in the living body include NADH (nicotinamide adenine nucleotide), FMN (flavin mononucleotide), and pyridine nucleotide. Recently, the correlations between these living-body internal cause substances and diseases are becoming clear.
Furthermore, fluorescent agents, e.g., HpD (hematoporphyrin), Photofrin, and ALA (δ-amino levulinic acid), serving as drugs to emit fluorescence have a property of accumulating on a cancer and, therefore, disease sites can be diagnosed by injecting these fluorescent agents into living bodies and conducting fluorescence observation.
Technologies for endoscopically diagnosing a lesion site based on the above-described fluorescence include fluorescence observation endoscope apparatuses disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-224208 and the like.
In recent years, a diagnosis and treatment method in which a fluorescent drug having an affinity for lesions, e.g., a cancer, is administered beforehand in the body of an inspection object, excitation light to excite the drug is radiated and, thereby, fluorescence from the drug accumulated on the lesion is detected has been noted.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-201707 discloses an endoscope apparatus in which the light emitted from a lamp is adjusted to have a wavelength band including infrared excitation light and visible light by a band-pass filter, and is radiated through a light guide fiber of the endoscope to an inspection object administered with a indocyanine green derived labeled antibody which is excited in an infrared region and emits fluorescence, so that the diagnosis and treatment can be conducted while a fluorescence figure and a normal image by the visible light are displayed on a monitor.
Furthermore, PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2000-507129 discloses an intraveneous injection control apparatus in which a calibrated coding device, e.g., a calibrated rotatable knob, capable of setting variably a desired value and a microcontroller provided with a program of pharmacological model are included and the concentration of a drug fluid in the blood or the like is kept constant based on the pharmacological model during execution of injection by the user.